AG: Met Council case 'Completely Different' from Puerto Rican Day Parade

Wayne Barrett, reporting for City & State, attempted for weeks to get answers from the state Attorney General’s office before publishing a story examining Eric Schneiderman’s decision not to take action against the board of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty following the criminal prosecution of longtime CEO William Rapfogel. 

One specific question Barrett sought clarification on was why the AG acted so harshly toward the board of the Puerto Rican Day Parade when he was comparatively lenient with the Met Council board, even though the AG's descriptions of the boards' failings in the two seperate cases virtually mirrored each other, according to Barrett.

Following a press conference announcing a crackdown on herbal supplements, Schneiderman responded to City & State's question about the actions he took in the two cases, suggesting it was not accurate to compare them. 

“They are completely different situations,” Schneiderman said. “The MET Council Board funded its own internal investigation, developed evidence and turned it over to our office. We worked with the MET Council Board to identify the small number of people who were siphoning money off from a charity that performed and delivered a lot of good services. We identified the folks who were siphoning off money, who were essentially looting the charity. And I’ve worked with the board that brought us the evidence in the first place to enact further reforms and ensure that it is able to go forward and provide those services. Completely different situations.”

As Barrett points out, Schneiderman himself suggested the board should have done more in the agreement he signed with the Met Council on Jewish Poverty at the end of 2013. 

“The fact that Rapfogel and others were able to carry out such a large insurance fraud over an extended period of time,” Schneiderman wrote then, “raises serious questions about Met Council’s governance, internal controls and outside auditors.”

At the press conference, City & State was unable to follow up with questions about the restitution payments William Rapfogel made using donations received from supporters, most of which were anonymous.